Baystate Health stays positive with healthy outlook

Mark R. Tolosky is president and chief executive officer of Baystate Health.Submitted photo

By MARK R. TOLOSKY

Baystate Health is a very different organization in the early days of 2013 than it was in the early days of 2012.

From the buildings that constitute our hospital and health facilities to the way in which we're providing care, our organization is changing at a faster pace than at any other time during my 20-year tenure.

The environment in which we operate is changing, too. With the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June to uphold the Affordable Care Act - otherwise known as federal health-care reform - we are now working as hard to keep populations of people healthy as we do treating people when they are sick.

So much change, so fast. If I've learned anything in three decades of health-care management experience, it's that change can be pretty difficult. And, the fiscal challenges of the health-care landscape seem to grow more daunting every day. But we at Baystate are making tremendous progress in embracing the change, and in doing so continuing our legacy of more than 100 years of delivering world-class care, here at home, to the people and communities of Western Massachusetts.

With the opening in 2012 of brand-new facilities that place our patients and their families at the center of all we do, we're off and running with this transformation of health care. With innovative new programs that rethink how we deliver care - a groundbreaking group-based approach to managing obesity and its complications in very health-challenged populations, for example, or our initiative to better manage cholesterol to keep patients out of the hospital - we're off to an excellent start.

What really inspires me, though, about the change I see underway is that it isn't taking place only within the walls of Baystate Health. Our community is changing with us. People are taking charge of their health like never before, asking more questions, researching quality and safety measures, being empowered as patients. This is a very positive development.

And, it's not only individuals changing. Whether it's grassroots initiatives to improve access to healthy food in economically challenged neighborhoods, to burgeoning fitness and nutrition programs for young people, to senior communities increasingly making active time a part of their daily rituals, I see signs everywhere that all of us are getting serious about getting healthier.

For all the great efforts already under way, there remains much work to be done.

Baystate Health, as an organization, continues its efforts to improve the efficiency and coordination of the care we provide. We recognize that there is nothing more important - amid the challenge of a cancer diagnosis, a life-changing cardiac surgery, a child's hospitalization - than our patients and their families understanding, believing in and playing active and collaborative roles in their treatment.

And, we recognize that your experience as a patient, from the minute you park your car to your discharge and arrival back home, and beyond, needs to be every bit as world-class as the care itself. In everything we do, we are working to continue to transform and improve these crucial elements of the overall experience of being a patient at Baystate.

Others need to step up, too, if this transformation is going to be successful for all. Perhaps the most daunting obstacle to transforming health care for the better is the sluggish economic recovery that is forcing all of our payers, including the state, federal and private entities that reimburse us for the care we provide, to look very hard at every nickel they spend on health care, and minimize those costs however possible.

Federal and state payers are already reimbursing Baystate and other providers at significantly less than 100 percent of costs. If this trend continues, and given that the state of Massachusetts is hoping to reduce health spending by as much as $200 billion over 15 years, there isn't a lot of reason to think it won't, it can't help but make our journey to patient-centered medical care more difficult.

The new year's agreement in Washington to forestall temporarily a plunge over the 'fiscal cliff' has brought us back from a troubling precipice; unfortunately, it has also imposed another round of significant reductions to federal support for health providers and the crucial services they provide to their communities. Without question, we are here for our community. But let's be clear: We can't do it all, and we can't do it alone.

Still, it's a comfort to note that some things have remained the same here in Western Massachusetts. Baystate Health remains a national leader in health-care quality, not only in the outcomes of the care we provide to our patients, but also in advancing the understanding of the best approaches to improving health-care quality.

We remain the region's largest private employer, with 10,000 employees. We continue our work training the providers of the future, with flourishing medical education, residency and fellowship programs in medicine and nursing, not only building a work force for doctor's offices, hospitals and specialty centers around the region for decades to come, but also delivering the substantial, positive economic impact of these earners in building a stronger local economy.

There is a lot to be optimistic about on the local health-care landscape this year.
Now, more than ever before, people in Western Massachusetts can receive world-class advanced specialty services at Baystate Medical Center without the inconvenience and added expense of a long trip to Boston, and without fragmentation of their continuing care between disparate hospitals and providers. Amid great change, we remain here for you, here with world-class care, in our community, close to home. I wish you all the best in 2013.

Mark R. Tolosky is president and chief executive officer of Baystate Health; to learn more about Baystate Health, go online to www.baystatehealth.com